Congressman Troy Downing, R-Mont., joined ‘Mornings with Maria’ to debate the shutdown’s financial toll, record-high beef costs and the president’s $2,000 reduction plan amid rising fears of inflation and rising debt.
Beef costs have climbed to report highs, and but People hold shopping for steaks.
Economists say that deep-rooted demand helps drive costs larger and there’s little signal it’s going to ease anytime quickly.
Glynn Tonsor, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State College, informed Fox Information Digital that robust client demand continues to push beef costs upward, no matter provide fluctuations.
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“There’s nothing that forces me otherwise you or anyone else after we go into the grocery retailer to pay extra for beef. Individuals are selecting to,” he mentioned.
“The buyer need for beef is robust and, whatever the supply-side scenario, that has the impact of pulling costs up.”
The typical worth of beef in grocery shops climbed from about $8.40 per pound in March to $9.18 per pound by August 2025. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP / Getty Photographs)
In response to USDA information, the typical worth of beef in grocery shops climbed from about $8.40 per pound in March to $9.18 per pound by August 2025, a roughly 9% improve over that interval.
People are nonetheless shopping for, although, in truth, greater than ever.
In 2024, customers spent over $40 billion on recent beef, which made up greater than half of all fresh-meat gross sales, based on information from Beef Analysis, a contractor to the Nationwide Cattlemen’s Beef Affiliation.
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Trade analysts say that whereas beef provides are anticipated to get even tighter in 2025, costs might climb a bit larger.
Regardless of these pressures, economists like Tonsor say People’ loyalty to beef stays unmatched and that large-scale manufacturing is a part of what retains it inside attain for shoppers.
Cattle are proven in pens on the Cattlemen’s Columbus Livestock Public sale in Columbus, Texas, on Oct. 8, 2025. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
“I might argue that these economies of scale profit shoppers,” Tonsor mentioned. “The flexibility to function at a less expensive price per head and, finally, per pound produced provides us the flexibility to supply beef and each different merchandise we’re speaking about at a less expensive worth. Something we try this loses these economies of scale truly hurts shoppers within the type of larger costs.”
However even with robust client urge for food preserving the market buoyant, ranchers are going through challenges on the opposite finish of the provision chain.
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Whereas robust demand is one purpose beef costs stay excessive, provide is one other.
Years of drought, excessive feed prices and an ageing ranching inhabitants have thinned herds throughout the nation, leaving the U.S. cattle provide at its lowest stage in additional than 70 years.
A ranch hand rounds up cattle on the Adams Ranch Inc. in St. Lucie County, Florida, on July 9, 2013. (Ty Wright/Bloomberg / Getty Photographs)
Derrell Peel, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State College, mentioned the present provide crunch received’t be fastened in a single day.
“The very fact of the matter is there’s actually nothing anyone can do to alter this in a short time,” Peel mentioned. “We’re in a good provide scenario that took a number of years to develop, and it’ll take a number of years to get out of it.”
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He famous that there’s no fast solution to ease stress on cattle costs, because it takes roughly two years to deliver animals to market and several other years to rebuild herds.
In the meantime, the Trump administration says it’s working to deliver down beef costs by boosting provide by way of extra imports from international locations like Argentina, whereas laying the groundwork for a long-term plan to strengthen the U.S. cattle trade.
